Shari Harley
Biography

LONG BIO: Shari Harley, MA and Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) is the founder and president of Candid Culture an international training and consulting firm bringing candor back to the work place, creating a safe haven for employees, managers, and clients to speak honestly. Candid Culture helps corporations, associations, government agencies, schools, and not-for-profits get and keep the right customers and employees by creating better business relationships. Shari is a business person. Her previous experience includes selling and facilitating for Dale Carnegie Training, conducting customer service training for American Century Investments, leading leadership training and successful planning for OppenheimerFunds, and managing operations across 21, nation-wide locations, with 200 matrixed employees. Shari started her management training business after a fifteen year corporate career. She left her National Director role in 2007 with no plan and no prospects. Her family and friends thought she was crazy. But even in one of the worst economic climates of all time, Shari's business leadership development services have been in high demand. Organizations of all types and sizes, in seven countries, have gravitated to Shari's simple communication and management training for forging long lasting business relationships. Shari is known globally as an engaging, fun, content-rich business speaker and trainer. She is the author of the book How to Say Anything to Anyone. She has an undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master's degree in Applied Communication from the University of Denver, where she served as an adjunct faculty member and taught business leadership development courses. Shari's practical approach to improving business relationships has led her to speak and train throughout the United States and in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Dubai and Australia. And while she enjoys speaking and training throughout the United States and internationally, Shari lives in Denver, Colorado because it is never humid there. 

Shari Harley
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Be a Best Company
Find Out What REALLY Makes an Organization a Great Place to Work and What You Can Do to Consistently Be One

There is a lot of research about what makes a company a great place to work. When you boil it down, there are really just five things that lead to loyal, engaged and high performing employees. Find out what really makes employees do their best work and remain engaged over long periods of time. Learn what the best companies are doing to be great places to work, and get practices you can implement immediately. Create and maintain a successful organizational culture that endures leadership changes, mergers and acquisitions, and the other challenges inherent in a fast paced, driven organization.

Learning Outcomes:

Managers and employees give regular and timely feedback.
Employees are engaged and doing their best work.
Senior leaders and managers build trusting and mutually respectful relationships with employees.
Employees, managers and senior leaders speak candidly.
Departments learn from mistakes and create and follow best practices.
Employees at all levels feel heard and 'a part' of the organization

Avoiding the Quit and Stay Phenomenon: Engage and Retain Your Best Employees
Walk by your employees' desks and see them surfing the Internet? The bad news: They're not researching how to improve the company's results. They're playing fantasy football or shopping for shoes. The good news: You can incent performance and raise morale. And you don't have to spend any money.

When turnover is low, employees still quit--they just don't leave the building. Quit and stay is the phenomenon of employees becoming disengaged and less productive while waiting for other roles to become available. Quit and stay is an unfortunate but avoidable phenomena.

Do you know which of your employees are engaged and committed to your organization?
Do you have a plan for those who are not?

Outcomes to Expect:

Bring the fun and camaraderie back to work. Make work a place people want to be.
Recognize performance without spending money.
Find out why your employees stay with your organization and what would make them leave.
Develop a loyal and committed workforce.
Get the best from employees.

The program is interactive, fun and packed with immediately applicable tips and techniques.

Getting the Best from Employees
Coaching and Developing Employees for Maximum Contribution

Coaching and developing employees is the hardest thing managers do. Being a good coach requires trust, patience, and takes time, time you may not feel you have. The old adage, "If you want something done right, do it yourself" may at times feel true, but it also leaves managers overextended, unfocused and with an underdeveloped staff. Giving direct reports an appropriate amount of responsibility and accountability is the only way employees develop and the only way managers get out of the weeds and are able to focus on the work they're supposed to be doing--leading people and departments. A lack of growth and development opportunities is the greatest reason for employee turnover. If you want your staff to stay and be engaged, they need to feel that they are developing new skills and abilities.

Learn how to coach and delegate appropriately so both managers and direct reports get what they need. Managers get results and more time to focus on their own accountabilities, and employees learn new skills and become more autonomous.

Outcomes to Expect:

Create a more satisfied and engaged long-term work force.
Develop employees for long-term growth and mobility.
Have more time to focus on one's own responsibilities.
Create environments of accountability and unprecedented results.
Get the best from employees.

Agenda:

Determine what will improve employees' performance.
Provide fresh, constructive performance feedback to long-term employees.
Incent improved performance with staff members who have hit the salary cap.
Help employees honestly assess their own performance.
Have candid conversations with employees without wishing you had taken medication.

The program is useful, interactive, fun and packed with immediately applicable techniques.

How to Say Anything to Anyone
Setting Expectations for Powerful Working Relationships

Speaking up when we are frustrated is hard and, as a result, most of us don't. Instead, either we tell other people (aka gossip) or we say nothing, and relationships are strained.

You can say anything to anyone and have it be easy.
You just need to lay the ground work to do so, and most of us don't.

Before:

You have a request for someone in IT, but you don't know how to say it, so you don't say anything
A project you worked on for six months has become a black hole. There is no information about the status. You're frustrated but you don't say anything.
One of your customers has unreasonable expectations. How do you say no, without saying no?
One of your colleagues isn't pulling her weight. It's impacting you, but you don't say anything.

Outcomes to Expect:

Establish trust in any relationship, laying the foundation to be able to address issues when they arise.
Set expectations with co-workers, direct supervisors and clients - paving the way to successful long-term relationships.
Determine what's important to your manager, co-workers and clients making it more likely that you give them what they need.
Tell others what you need, making it more likely that your needs are met.
Create a regular practice of asking for feedback so that you know your reputation and how you are perceived among your clients and co-workers.
Receive more feedback and implement it.

Just Say It!
Making ANY Conversation Easy

Giving feedback is challenging for everyone. No one wants to hear that she isn't doing a good job. And thus no one wants to tell her. Telling your boss you're frustrated or aren't hitting your targets can be even more difficult, and thus many of us say nothing. Worse is that most feedback, positive or negative, is useless because it's vague.

Get a simple formula to make even the most difficult conversations easier. Conversations will be short, specific and to the point. They won't be personal. They will be actionable. You'll be able to say what you want to say, when you want to say it, in a way that people can hear you and take action.

Outcomes to Expect:

Package and deliver difficult messages, managing the impressions you create.
Give clear and specific feedback that employees can act upon immediately.
Provide feedback to peers, direct supervisors, and others at a higher level in a way that does not elicit defensive responses.
Demonstrate commitment to developing employees' careers and retaining key talent.
Eliminate your blind spots. Manage your career, reputation and results.
Receive more feedback without showing emotion or frustration.

Shari Harley
Featured Book

How to Say Anything to Anyone: A Guide to Building Business Relationships That Really Workby Shari Harley

How to Say Anything to Anyone: A Guide to Building Business Relationships That Really Work

by Shari Harley
Take charge of your career by taking charge of your business relationships.

Shari Harley
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